Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra criticised the central government on Wednesday for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled inauguration of the new Parliament building on May 28. She also expressed discontent over President Droupadi Murmu not being invited to the event. Moitra accused the government of being “ignorant about the constitutional niceties”, and stated that the TMC would not be participating in the May 28 event, referring to it as a "party."
Taking to Twitter, Mahua Moitra wrote: “President of India is Number 1 in warrant of precedence, VP is Num 2 & Prime Minister is 3rd. Govt ignorant about constitutional niceties. This is NOT Modiji’s Grihapravesh for house that he built with his own money. @AITCofficial not attending May 28th party. Good luck to BJP."
In a separate tweet, she also posted the joint statement of 19 opposition parties 'boycotting' the inauguration ceremony of the new parliament building. "Joint statement of like-minded Opposition parties," she wrote in caption.
Opposition parties follow TMC in boycott
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) led the way by being the first party to boycott the inauguration of the new building. Within a day, 18 other parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, different factions of the Communist Party of India (CPI (M), CPI), Janata Dal-United (JDU), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena (UBT), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Kerala Congress (Mani), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), National Conference (NC), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, followed suit.
“Despite our belief that the government is threatening democracy, and our disapproval of the autocratic manner in which the new Parliament was built, we were open to sinking our differences and marking this occasion. However, PM Modi's decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President Droupadi Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy which demands a commensurate response," the opposition parties said in their joint statement.
Puri slams Congress for 'unnecessary controversy'
Amidst the controversy surrounding the exclusion of President Murmu from the inaugural event, Union Minister and BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri commented on Tuesday, stating that the Congress party has a tendency to generate controversies even when none exist. “While President is the Head of State, PM is the Head of Govt and leads the Parliament on behalf of the Govt, whose Policies are effected in form of Laws. The President is not a Member of either House, whereas PM is,” Puri said.
